How many have purchased and have their HDX cards?

[Rumpel]

I'm a PT10 user.

But I'm genuinely wondering if there are any of you that have gone from PT10 HD to HDX and are speaking of snappier processing, opening and closing times etc.

Most of the comments sound exactly the same as what I experienced in going from PT 9HD to PT10 HD.

I'm just wondering if any of this is down to the hardware, or just simply the software upgrade that comes with it.

[Redbeard]

I've got Two HDX3 systems waiting for a new Mac Pro solution from Apple. In the meantime, I am testing PT10 on the existing HD systems.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Redbeard

I've got Two HDX3 systems waiting for a new Mac Pro solution from Apple. In the meantime, I am testing PT10 on the existing HD systems.

What exactly are you in need of in a new MacPro?

[Redbeard]

Originally Posted by musicman691

What exactly are you in need of in a new MacPro?

Oh whatever Apple comes out with next.
Intel's Sandy Bridge E Xeon processor, AMD Tahiti graphics, Thunderbolt, etc.

I am aware that I could get a "new" current Mac Pro to run it, and I will if Apple doesn't come up with something in the first quarter or so, but I can wait for the latest and greatest.

[rus5]

I've had an HDX1 system for about 2 weeks. I spent a LOT of time dealing with the external power cable issue since I have a video card that uses both motherboard plugs on my Westmere. Big big oversight by Avid. Anyway, I can't actually say I've noticed that it opens sessions faster than my previous PT9 Native system did. It seems about the same. And I can't say much about the HDX card since Avid didn't release the "many more" DSP plugins with the system that they promised. I would say the system sounds about the same as Native, as expected. So I'm in "wait and see" mode hoping they (and everyone else) release more AAX-DSP plugins soon. The PT10 s/w by itself is an improvement over PT9.

[Carl Lie]

Originally Posted by rus5

I've had an HDX1 system for about 2 weeks. I spent a LOT of time dealing with the external power cable issue since I have a video card that uses both motherboard plugs on my Westmere. Big big oversight by Avid. Anyway, I can't actually say I've noticed that it opens sessions faster than my previous PT9 Native system did. It seems about the same. And I can't say much about the HDX card since Avid didn't release the "many more" DSP plugins with the system that they promised. I would say the system sounds about the same as Native, as expected. So I'm in "wait and see" mode hoping they (and everyone else) release more AAX-DSP plugins soon. The PT10 s/w by itself is an improvement over PT9.

How did you end up fixing the power problem. Did you have to swap out your video card?

Carl

[rus5]

Originally Posted by Carl Lie

How did you end up fixing the power problem. Did you have to swap out your video card?

Carl

Hi Carl,

I wasted a huge amount of time contacting third party computer companies (and cable companies, and video card manufacturers and retailers) trying to find a Mac sized splitter. There are splitters that look exactly right in photos on the net but are actually much larger and will only work with PCs (I have a Westmere Mac Pro).

After scrounging around in various electronics stores one very bright sales guy remembered he had a product that included a power supply with an output connector that fit the PC flavored cable Avid provides with the HDX card. I bought that, plugged it in the wall and ran the cable in through the open side of the computer to the card and it worked.

Eventually, the dealer I bought the card from found an adapter that connects to the CD-ROM/DVD drive supply cable and has that same PC connector on the other end. Since I happen to only have one drive, the other connector was unused so he sent me the adapter, I hooked it up, closed the computer cabinet and that's where I am now. Its a kluge to put it mildly but it works.

I have to admit I'm dumb enough to hold out some faint hope that Avid will eventually come up with the splitter cable for its customers some day (there are obviously a lot of people in the same situation and of course, Avid knows all about it but didn't bother to provide for it - they are Avid you know...). Or perhaps, some cleaver third party will come up with the splitter and make a little money selling them. The male connector is the hard one to find. If I could find that, I'd make one for myself. Apparently, the mother board produces enough power to support one side of a "Y" splitter to power one of the two video card connections and the other to power the HDX cards.

Hope that helps!

[musicman691]

One of the things I wonder about is did Avid's design engineers take into account how much power these cards draw versus how much a Mac or pc supplies? Granted one can readily change the power supply in a pc and get more power but in a Mac? Not so much.

What I'm getting at is how long is it going to be before people with HDX2 or HDX3 setups in a MacPro will start having power supplies going south? And these cards have to be drawing some huge amount of power to generate enough heat that they need a fan to cool them.

As an EE in another lifetime I really have to question Avid's thinking on this. Nice idea but the execution is flawed.

[Carl Lie]

Originally Posted by rus5

Hi Carl,

I wasted a huge amount of time contacting third party computer companies (and cable companies, and video card manufacturers and retailers) trying to find a Mac sized splitter. There are splitters that look exactly right in photos on the net but are actually much larger and will only work with PCs (I have a Westmere Mac Pro).

After scrounging around in various electronics stores one very bright sales guy remembered he had a product that included a power supply with an output connector that fit the PC flavored cable Avid provides with the HDX card. I bought that, plugged it in the wall and ran the cable in through the open side of the computer to the card and it worked.

Eventually, the dealer I bought the card from found an adapter that connects to the CD-ROM/DVD drive supply cable and has that same PC connector on the other end. Since I happen to only have one drive, the other connector was unused so he sent me the adapter, I hooked it up, closed the computer cabinet and that's where I am now. Its a kluge to put it mildly but it works.

I have to admit I'm dumb enough to hold out some faint hope that Avid will eventually come up with the splitter cable for its customers some day (there are obviously a lot of people in the same situation and of course, Avid knows all about it but didn't bother to provide for it - they are Avid you know...). Or perhaps, some cleaver third party will come up with the splitter and make a little money selling them. The male connector is the hard one to find. If I could find that, I'd make one for myself. Apparently, the mother board produces enough power to support one side of a "Y" splitter to power one of the two video card connections and the other to power the HDX cards.

Hope that helps!

Yeah. I was good with my install because I had the extra power slot but I remember you going through hoops and was happy to hear that you finally got it working.

It does seem like an oversight on AVID's part and I hope they offer you and others in your shoes a classy solution.

That's way too much for someone to go through to get this working.

Thanks and be well.

Carl

[alnico]

Just got mine up and running over the weekend with Pro Tools 10. I can definitely say it's quicker. Of course that's somewhat due to getting a new computer also. The other thing I noticed right away is that the sound of the new I/O is noticeably superior to my old 192. I have the Apogee AD16X on my original system and it's nice but I can definitely hear the difference on the playback from the new HD/IO. .